heat pad

paulmaybee · May 05, 2015, 12:40:24 PM

Has anyone used those heating pads that sit under the carboy? Any reviews?

blisster · May 05, 2015, 01:30:55 PM

I use heat coils I wrap around my carboy(s) when it gets too chilly in the garage, held in place with masking tape... They work pretty good, especially with a blanket put on top of the coils. My wife's electric blanket works nice too (shhhhh).

Yep, I can't afford and don't have room for a fermentation chamber so I hillbilly-rig my beer

I suspect a heat pad would work better than a coil if taped to the side. I'm not sure I'd want to sit a carboy on top and warm up the beer through he dead yeast/trub at the bottom though...

by the way, don't use duct tape to on heating coils. Bad idea.

paulmaybee · May 05, 2015, 02:14:23 PM

Thanks for the input Blisster. That was also what I was wondering about heating it through the dead yeast. I wonder if anyone has tried it and noticed any negative side effects??

Roger · May 05, 2015, 02:48:58 PM

That's funny I never gave it a second though! Before I built a Ferm. Chamber I would sit my fermenter on a water bed heater on the floor wrapped in a blanket. I never noticed any issues. But I always do a transfer into a secondary after a few days maybe that's why... Duno! Interesting thought though.

jamie_savoie · May 05, 2015, 02:52:45 PM

when souring with lacto I use a seed germinating mat and wrap it around the middle of the carboy and I use duct tape to hold it in place. Works great for me
if you're not using lacto or a hot tolerant strain like some saison yeast I would be worried of autolysis. Dead yeast doesn't taste that great....speaking from experience lol

Roger · May 05, 2015, 02:59:10 PM

Quote from: jamie_savoie on May 05, 2015, 02:52:45 PM
when souring with lacto I use a seed germinating mat and wrap it around the middle of the carboy and I use duct tape to hold it in place. Works great for me
if you're not using lacto or a hot tolerant strain like some saison yeast I would be worried of autolysis. Dead yeast doesn't taste that great....speaking from experience lol

Well there you have it a tip from the pro!

paulmaybee · May 05, 2015, 06:47:04 PM

Quote from: jamie_savoie on May 05, 2015, 02:52:45 PM
when souring with lacto I use a seed germinating mat and wrap it around the middle of the carboy and I use duct tape to hold it in place. Works great for me
if you're not using lacto or a hot tolerant strain like some saison yeast I would be worried of autolysis. Dead yeast doesn't taste that great....speaking from experience lol

Thanks Jamie, this is helpful. I'll take a look for a seed germinating mat. Is there one you'd recommend?

jamie_savoie · May 06, 2015, 09:25:24 AM

Well I just used the mat because I already had it and didn't want to buy another gadget. Maybe some wine belt would work too or the heating blanket like @blisster said. Whatever works

Another thing I tried was putting the fermenter into a big bucket of water and use an aquarium heater. The only thing I didn't like about this is there was a good difference in temp for one side to the other and top and bottom. Would work great with a small recirculating pump

paulmaybee · May 06, 2015, 10:27:48 AM

Quote from: jamie_savoie on May 06, 2015, 09:25:24 AM
Well I just used the mat because I already had it and didn't want to buy another gadget. Maybe some wine belt would work too or the heating blanket like @blisster said. Whatever works
Another thing I tried was putting the fermenter into a big bucket of water and use an aquarium heater. The only thing I didn't like about this is there was a good difference in temp for one side to the other and top and bottom. Would work great with a small recirculating pump

I had also tried years ago with an insulated rubbermaid garbage bin and aquarium heater. I found it worked well, but was cumbersome to work with and took up a lot of space. I'm looking for a simpler solution, so I think I will try the heat pad route.

feldmann · May 06, 2015, 11:15:22 AM

I made a paint can heater. It cost me $10-15 and has worked for me for years. Warmest I've ever fermented at was 23 during the winter and it kept it there steady for a week.

Here's the link if you're interested.

paulmaybee · May 06, 2015, 11:41:40 AM

Quote from: feldmann on May 06, 2015, 11:15:22 AM
I made a paint can heater. It cost me $10-15 and has worked for me for years. Warmest I've ever fermented at was 23 during the winter and it kept it there steady for a week.

Here's the link if you're interested.

Do you use this in a fridge/freezer, or did you build a wooden ferm chamber? I'm thinking I might just need to build a deluxe ferm chamber, but was trying to avoid it if possible.

feldmann · May 06, 2015, 02:31:04 PM

I use an old fridge but as long as you put some insulation in a wooden one, it should work fine.

Scott · May 06, 2015, 02:41:38 PM

We use an old fridge for a ferm chamber, just a couple of lightbulbs wired in series for heating and a temperature controller. We have to switch manually between heating and cooling.

Two Wheeler · May 19, 2015, 10:05:26 AM

Hey Paul,

Not sure if you can easily source these parts in Canada, but here's a heater based on heat tape for a lizard enclosure

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?p=6879426#post6879426